Hi, new here :)

Adagio samples make it easy and fun to try a large variety of new teas. Also reading the reviews there and of course the forums here will make you an expert in no time.

The box pass problem as you probably know is the package gets large and heavy and the postage is a factor as well as the delay in shipping and receiving in and out of the country. Not to mention the custom forms we have to use here! But it is certainly not out of the question forever.

Welcome to TeaChat, Xymenah. I'm from BC myself, so it's nice to see another Wet Coaster on the forum! What sort of teas do you like?

I really recommend trying Adagio's samples as a way of exploring tea further. Their teas are good, the sample tins are quite affordable, and their shipping is very reasonable. The company also has consumer reviews available on all of its teas, which can also be helpful when you're trying to decide on a shortlist.

Incidentally, you raise an interesting point about the Tea Pass. The only hitch to the idea of an all-Canadian tea pass is that shipping within Canada itself is generally considerably more expensive than it is to ship from the U.S. to Canada, or vice versa. I really notice this when I buy something from a seller on eBay or Etsy - all other things being equal, it's invariably less expensive (in terms of shipping) to buy from the U.S. than from within Canada.

Basically I find it outrageous that shipping something via Canada Post to the U.S. is cheaper than shipping the same item within my own country

chamekke wrote:Incidentally, you raise an interesting point about the Tea Pass. The only hitch to the idea of an all-Canadian tea pass is that shipping within Canada itself is generally considerably more expensive than it is to ship from the U.S. to Canada, or vice versa. I really notice this when I buy something from a seller on eBay or Etsy - all other things being equal, it's invariably less expensive (in terms of shipping) to buy from the U.S. than from within Canada.

Basically I find it outrageous that shipping something via Canada Post to the U.S. is cheaper than shipping the same item within my own country

Really? When I was at school in Montreal sending packages back and forth from Houston was incredibly expensive!

chamekke wrote:Incidentally, you raise an interesting point about the Tea Pass. The only hitch to the idea of an all-Canadian tea pass is that shipping within Canada itself is generally considerably more expensive than it is to ship from the U.S. to Canada, or vice versa. I really notice this when I buy something from a seller on eBay or Etsy - all other things being equal, it's invariably less expensive (in terms of shipping) to buy from the U.S. than from within Canada.

Basically I find it outrageous that shipping something via Canada Post to the U.S. is cheaper than shipping the same item within my own country

Really? When I was at school in Montreal sending packages back and forth from Houston was incredibly expensive!

Canada Post's domestic shipping prices used to be a lot more reasonable than they are now. Honestly - shipping from here to anywhere in the U.S. is calculated using a flat rate, but shipping within Canada is priced depending on the distance between sender and destination; and if you're shipping to the other end of the country, it gets kinda pricey.

Something else to bear in mind is that you're penalized in any case if the "packet" you're shipping can't be fitted through a small slot, about 3/4" high I think. My husband was sending a cassette tape to a friend in the U.S. and was told it would be $11 to ship - not because of the parcel's weight, but because it couldn't fit through the requisite slot. The postal clerk advised him to ditch the original packaging and to put it in a thin bubble envelope. I think it only cost a couple of bucks then. The trick, definitely, is to ship flat items!

Actually, it isn't so bad if you are shipping locally or within your own province. So maybe not all is lost

chamekke wrote:Incidentally, you raise an interesting point about the Tea Pass. The only hitch to the idea of an all-Canadian tea pass is that shipping within Canada itself is generally considerably more expensive than it is to ship from the U.S. to Canada, or vice versa. I really notice this when I buy something from a seller on eBay or Etsy - all other things being equal, it's invariably less expensive (in terms of shipping) to buy from the U.S. than from within Canada.

Basically I find it outrageous that shipping something via Canada Post to the U.S. is cheaper than shipping the same item within my own country

Really? When I was at school in Montreal sending packages back and forth from Houston was incredibly expensive!

Canada Post's domestic shipping prices used to be a lot more reasonable than they are now. Honestly - shipping from here to anywhere in the U.S. is calculated using a flat rate, but shipping within Canada is priced depending on the distance between sender and destination; and if you're shipping to the other end of the country, it gets kinda pricey.

Something else to bear in mind is that you're penalized in any case if the "packet" you're shipping can't be fitted through a small slot, about 3/4" high I think. My husband was sending a cassette tape to a friend in the U.S. and was told it would be $11 to ship - not because of the parcel's weight, but because it couldn't fit through the requisite slot. The postal clerk advised him to ditch the original packaging and to put it in a thin bubble envelope. I think it only cost a couple of bucks then. The trick, definitely, is to ship flat items!

Actually, it isn't so bad if you are shipping locally or within your own province. So maybe not all is lost

Just gets tricky/unfortunate for your budget when a huge chunk of the population lives in BC and the other huge chunk lives in Ontario and Quebec! I always found it slightly amusing that my classmates from Vancouver and I had about equal distances to travel from school to home over breaks.